Meet Lisa Mensonides

 

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Lisa Mensonides. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Lisa below.

Lisa, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?

I developed my work ethic from our family business. I grew up working at the processing plant of our dairy farm where we ran a drive in dairy retail store. If an employee called out sick one of my three brothers or I would be the one to fill the shift. We had to sacrifice to keep the place running. When I was really little I would get up at 2 am with my dad sometimes to go pick up milk from the dairy farm we milked the cows at that was a 45 minute drive away. I was there to keep him company, and honestly slept most of the drive, but I was already learning then what it meant to put out a quality product. If a driver needed time off or was sick I would also help my dad deliver milk to the stores that sold our milk when I got older. I also assisted in making ice cream the summers I was off from college. A lot of my childhood was spent working to make and deliver quality dairy products to our local community. People loved our dairy and we loved serving them. We still sold milk in half gallon glass bottles then, too and customers swore it tasted better because it kept the milk so cold. All this hard work instilled in me an ethic that would carry on to my own business. How would I want to be served? How would I want my wedding dress altered for my big day?

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

My business is a labor of love. What can I say? I love, LOVE and what I love even more, is empowering women to come into their bodies and the magic that comes with it. I love turning people’s fantasies into reality when it comes to wedding dress body sculpting. Being a part of someone’s wedding in this way is something I do not take lightly.

I am currently at a forced crossroads after this 2025 bridal season as I have advanced Lyme disease and rheumatoid arthritis that are slowing me down. My hands can’t hold up to the workload of years past. So now I am exploring teaching, more creative sewing avenues with minimal pressure, and holding space for those who want to learn the tricks of the trade. If I can’t physically sew anymore I want the craft to carry on so now it is time to teach and to pass the torch on. I foresee building a sewing community. I want to share these life skills, building friendship and camaraderie around this craft is something I want to expand upon. This craft is a life skill that will help many be more resourceful and live their own identity through their own unique fashion.

I also hope to expand upon my clothing brand. It is really about building slow fashion and self adjusting clothes that can change with you. As bodies change they can adjust or easily be adjusted. I genuinely am impassioned to create upscale up-cycled high end pieces as well, To find new life in clothing that would otherwise be disregarded. To help be the change of minimizing waste the fashion industry produces.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

You have to learn how to roll with the punches, fail well and move on. There are no mistakes, just learning opportunities. Be open to change and criticism if you want to grow your business. Find other people like you and network with them. You got to put yourself out there. If you are not your own cheerleader than who will be? Believing in yourself and tenacity are key ingredients to operating a successful business. One main thing I have learned the hard way was how my self worth directly related to the prices I was charging. More like way undercharging. As I have networked with other bridal alterations specialists and fashion designers they have been a very helpful sounding board. Building my business on my own without a mentor has been difficult. I have learned many things the hard way, but that has honestly been the best way to learn because then you won’t do something stupid twice in a row typically. Nobody has it figured out, you just have to keep trying and not give up. Be open to new opportunities and learning experiences.

Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?

I take one day at a time, one dress project at a time and break each project up into 3 sections and 3 appointments. I look at my schedule at the beginning of the week and now have figured out if the workload I scheduled was realistic or not. I have often found this year that the workload for the week was not realistic. It was too much. Lots of rescheduling, but I still got the wedding dresses done in time for the wedding. So make realistic goals before you say yes. If I had 3 appointments scheduled in a day and work needed to be done for all 3 of them I worked on what was due first and most important. I got really good at juggling this year. Not actual juggling, although that would be a good party trick to bust out sometime. I have honed my trade in well and knew what was expected at the next fitting and tried to accomplish that. If the expectation was not accomplished then I at least tried to communicate that to my client. If I needed more time, which with sewing you often do, I would end up going by wear date and made the next bride the number 1 priority by rescheduling every other client. A big thank you to all my 2025 brides this year by the way, thank you for your patience and flexibility! I also found out I was holding my breath a lot while I worked, so much so it showed up in my bloodwork. So please remember to breathe! Take 3 deep breaths when you can.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

French sessa photo co, Aram Photography, Photographs by grant

Suggest a Story: BoldJourney is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems,
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
Leadership Development
Where does your self-discipline come from?

One of the most essential skills for unlocking our potential is self-discipline. We asked some

Productivity
Tactics & Strategies for Keeping Your Creativity Strong

With the rapid improvements in AI, it’s more important than ever to keep your creativity

Productivity
Working hard in 2025: Keeping Work Ethic Alive

While the media might often make it seem like hard work is dead and that